1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grinding apparatus for grinding a wafer such as a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor device fabrication process, a plurality of crossing division lines are formed on the front side of a substantially disk-shaped semiconductor wafer to define a plurality of separate regions where a plurality of semiconductor devices such as ICs and LSIs are respectively formed. The semiconductor wafer is cut along the division lines to divide the regions where the semiconductor devices are formed from each other, thereby obtaining the individual semiconductor devices as chips. For the purpose of reducing the size and weight of each semiconductor device, the back side of the semiconductor wafer is ground by using a grinding apparatus to reduce the thickness of the wafer to a desired thickness prior to cutting the wafer along the division lines to obtain the individual semiconductor devices.
The grinding apparatus for grinding the back side of the wafer includes a chuck table having a holding surface for holding the wafer, grinding means for grinding the wafer held on the chuck table, cleaning means for cleaning the wafer ground by the grinding means, a cassette table for placing a cassette storing a plurality of wafers, handling means for taking any selected one of the plural wafers out of the cassette placed on the cassette table, temporary setting means for temporarily setting the wafer taken out of the cassette by the handling means, first transfer means for transferring the wafer from the temporary setting means to the chuck table, and second transfer means for transferring the wafer from the chuck table to the cleaning means after grinding (see Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-300155, for example).